Slipping Away
by Miss E Charlotte
Summary: Sequel to Mad Season; After a horrible tragedy, Henley turns to the bottle again, the guilt eating her alive. She's slipping away from everyone and just wants to coast through life alone. But once a new creature is running around killing people and her ex-boyfriend is bitten, she is pulled back into the world she tried to walk away from • Season Two • Isaac x OC • Hiatus
1. Tell Me How To Feel

**01; Tell Me How To Feel**

Henley leaned back against the windshield as she looked out over the lights of the town. It had been a few days since her world was turned upside down, and a couple of days since they buried her mother.

She honestly didn't remember much of the last few days though, they were basically a blur to her. She went through the motions, said the things she was supposed to say and did the things she was supposed to do when she was around people, but when she was alone, she refused to think and she made sure she was too numb to think.

She looked down at the half empty liquor bottle in her hand, then raised it up to her lips, before taking a big swallow, her head feeling a bit light-headed. It was a good start, but she liked it better when everything was numb and her whole body was buzzing. If she could walk straight and speak coherently, then she hasn't had enough in her opinion.

She slid down off the hood of her car, then stumbled a little before standing up straight. With the bottle by her side, she walked over to the cliff edge, standing closer than she should be in the state she was in. She began to raise the bottle again, until she heard her cell phone ring, causing her to gasp in surprise and the bottle to slip from her hand and fall down over the cliff. She stumbled backwards as a curse slipped passed her lips.

With a sigh, she slipped her phone out of her pants pocket then rolled her eyes when she saw it was Stiles. She hit the ignore button and slipped the phone back into her back pocket. She walked back over toward the edge, a pout on her face as she realized her bottle was gone and had shattered at the bottom of the cliff.

She spun around, walking toward her car, and hoped she had another bottle hidden in the trunk. She opened the trunk lid from inside the car, then went to the back of the car to look in the trunk. She shoved a bag of clothes aside, then lifted the cover where the spare tire was. Sometimes she would hide bottles there, unfortunately this time there wasn't one.

When she heard her phone ring again, she snapped her head up, smashing it on the lid of the car. She let out of string of curse words, before she jerked the phone out of her pocket again. She let out an angry groan when she saw Stiles' picture and number flashing on the screen. She ignored it like before, then slipped it into her pocket again.

"I'm not drunk enough to deal with this." She mumbled to herself. She slammed the trunk lid closed, then jumped in surprise when she saw Derek standing near the front of her car.

"What do you want?" Henley questioned him as she folded her arms across her chest.

"To talk." Derek answered.

"I don't want to talk." She stated. "And even if I did, I don't want to talk to you."

He didn't say anything, just shoved his hands into the pocket of his leather jacket and stare at her. She scoffed then began to walk toward the driver side door, close to where he was standing. She jerked the door open, but before she could slide inside the car, Derek stepped forward and slammed the door closed.

"Seriously, Derek?" Henley snapped as she shot him a look. "What the hell do you want?"

"I told you... to talk." He began to say. "I want to offer you a place in my pack."

She let out a snort, then began to laugh out loud. "You're joking, right?"

"I can't turn you, the bite won't take, but you can still be apart of my pack. I can help you." He said, ignoring her reaction.

She let out a bitter chuckle and said,"Oh, please, Derek. We both know you are not doing this out of the kindness of your heart." She shot him a look and added,"You only want me for the reason any other pack would want me, for the reason your uncle did. You want my extra energy to make yourself stronger, to heal betas if you ever get any and they need it. You just want to use me."

"That's not true-"

"Don't lie!" She called out. "It is the truth and we both know it, but why the hell would I even want to be apart of your pack? Be a part of that world?" Before he could say anything, she added,"Your world killed my mother! _You_ killed my mother!"

"Henley-"

"They were connected! Your uncle and my mother were connected and you killed him!" She yelled out as tears filled her eyes. She took a step toward him and slammed her fist against his chest as she continued,"Why did you have to kill him? Why then? Why couldn't you have waited, why didn't you give me time to break the connection? She would still be alive!"

"I didn't know." Derek said, trying to get through to her. He didn't know much about fórsas, he just recently heard about them, there was a lot he still had to learn.

He wrapped his hands around her wrist to stop her and slightly shook her as he called out,"Henley, I didn't know!"

"You killed her." She stated before breaking down in a sob. Her knees went weak and she fell against his chest as the truth spilled out, the thought that had consumed her since her mother's death.

"I killed her." She said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Deep down she knew she was only blaming Derek because it was easy and convenient. But she knew whose fault it really was... it was hers. Because of her, her father lost the love of his life and her little brother lost his mother. This was her fault.

Derek stood frozen, unsure what to do or say. He wasn't good at comforting people, frankly it made him uncomfortable. He use to not be that way though, as one of the youngest in the family, he remembered all the times his mother comforted him and what that felt like, but after losing her and the rest of his family, it's been awhile since he had felt a mother's touch. He knew how Henley felt though, she blamed herself for losing her mother just like he blamed himself for losing his whole family.

He felt a little guilty approaching her before, but he knew what was coming and he knew he needed a pack to be a stronger alpha. "This is why you need a pack. As a part of my pack, I'll look after you and protect you." He said, voicing his thought out loud.

Hearing him speak, she pushed away from him and quickly wiped at her face, feeling embarrassed for falling apart in front of him like she did, but that feeling didn't last long once she realized what he said.

She scoffed, an angry look appeared on her face as she said,"I can not believe you are using a tragedy to try to sell me on the perks of pack life." She shook her head as she spat out,"You really are your uncle's nephew."

"I'm nothing like Peter." He argued.

"Are you sure?" She questioned as she opened the car door. "'Cause he made me the same promise once too."

Without another word, she slide behind the wheel. She went to crank the car until she noticed the keys were missing from the ignition, where she had left them earlier when she arrived at the cliff.

She jerked her head up, seeing that Derek was gone, and realized it had to be him that took her keys. He had seen how wasted she was and had taken them from her car while she was busy looking in the trunk. He was serious about wanting her in his pack and protecting her, which meant he wasn't going to let her drink and drive.

"Damn it, Derek." She groaned and slapped the steering wheel. Now she was stranded; no booze, no car keys. Could things get worse?

As if on cue, her cell phone began to ring again. She let out a loud, frustrated groan as she grabbed the phone and saw it was Stiles once again. She finally hit to answer the call, putting it on speaker as she called out,"Stop calling me!"

She heard Stiles call out her name, but she ignored it as she hung up on him mid-word. It wasn't even a second later that the phone began to ring again. She answered the call, planning to yell at him again, but the words he called out caused her to pause.

"Lydia's missing!"

"What? What do you mean she's missing?" Henley asked. "She's in the hospital."

"She was, but she just left." Stiles said. "And that's not the worst of it."

"What could be worse than Lydia's missing?" She questioned sarcastically.

"She's nak..." His voice went out as his mind went to a dirty place. No, Stiles, now was not the time to imagine Lydia naked. He cleared his throat, then continued,"She's-She's uh, she's clothesless. I mean, not a stitch of cloth on her, like, at all. And with it being so cold out-"

"Shit." She mumbled as she ran a hand through her hair. They were pretty sure she wasn't a werewolf, since her wound wasn't healing the way Scott's did, but could they be wrong? It's clear something is going on with her, why else would she walk out of a hospital naked. Was she looking for an alpha or something else?

"Scott is meeting me at the hospital. I took the gown she was wearing so he can track her scent." Stiles explained as he made his way down the hallway to head for the parking lot.

"You mean stole." Henley pointed out.

"I mean borrowed, I mean... yeah, okay, I stole it." He admitted. "Where are you? We'll come get you."

"No, it's okay. I'm on the other side of town anyways."

"So? I'll come get you and we can search-"

"I'll search on my own." She cut him off.

"Henley..." Stiles softly said as he paused at the door. He knew how it was to lose a mother, it was different circumstances, but the pain was the same. "You shouldn't be alone."

"Call me if you find anything." She said, ignoring his comment. "But only if you find anything." She added, before she ended the call in the middle of him talking.

She reached to crank her car, remembering that the keys were missing and let out a swear, before pushing the door open and stepping out of the car.

Not really knowing where she was going, she just began to walk away from the cliff through the woods. She exited the woods, coming out on to one of the back roads, then began to walk down the road, realizing she wasn't far from an abandoned park.

She and Isaac use to play at the park when they were younger, but through the years it became unused and neglected. Now most of the playground equipment was rundown, and the grass and weeds had taken over. Sometimes the popular crowd used it for a party location, she didn't know why Lydia would go there on her own, but figured it wouldn't hurt to check since she was so close.

Seeing the park ahead of her, she went to cross the road, until something made her stop. She turned around, lowing her eyebrows in thought as she began to feel drawn to something in the opposite direction. She didn't want to follow it, she didn't want to use her powers, she wanted nothing to do with being a fórsa anymore, but she couldn't help but wonder if it was Lydia she was being drawn to.

She began to jog down the road, following whatever she was feeling, until she ended up at the cemetery. She paused at the entrance, a huge part of her didn't want to go in. She was just there the day before for her mother's funeral and she had no plans of going back anytime soon.

It was sad when she thought about how much time she use to spend in this cemetery, it use to be one of her favorite places, she had always felt safe there and now she wanted to be anywhere else but here.

She blew out a breath, then began to walk through a row of tombstones. On the bright side, at least she didn't see Isaac. She didn't think she could handle seeing him at the moment.

Since their break-up, he had tried to call her several times, but she always hit ignore, and any text messages he sent were quickly deleted. She hated treating him this way, but it was hard talking to him. She missed him, every minute of every day, she missed him, just like she missed her mother, and the last thing she wanted to be was have to bury him like she did her. So she knew as much as she hated, she couldn't be with him. She had to protect him.

While lost in thought, she blindly followed, until she realized which row she was on and came to a quick stop in front of her mother's grave. She released a shaky breath, her eyes tearing up and blurring her vision, making it hard to read the tombstone, but she had stared at it so much the day of the funeral, she memorized what it said. Under her name and dates, her father had ordered them to add- ' _She did more than exist, she lived. She did more than listen, she understood.'_

She turned her head and squeezed her eyes closed, willing herself not to break down, she didn't have the right to cry. Her father and brother were the ones who could grieve, they were the ones who lost an amazing wife and mother, and she was the cause of it all. Even the day of the funeral she didn't cry, she had also stood off to the side alone, because she knew that is what she deserved, she deserved to be all alone.

She remembered afterwards, Isaac came over to her and stood beside her. He didn't say anything at first, just took her hand in his, then lightly ran his thumb over the back of her hand. He just wanted to let her know she wasn't alone, that he was still there for her, but she couldn't let him comfort her, instead she pulled her hand away.

Off to the side, she heard her younger brother crying, his sobs making her feel even worse than he did. It hurt her to know that he was hurting this badly and it was her fault.

She told Isaac if he really wanted to comfort someone, he should go to Logan, he needs him. Isaac shook his head, telling her he needs his big sister. She scoffed at his comment, telling him that was the last thing he needs. Then without another word, she turned away from him and began to walk away from the crowd. She opened the purse in her hand, pulling out a flat bottle of clear liquor. She twisted off the cap and took a big swallow, hoping to numb the pain.

Hearing footsteps behind her, she was pulled from her thoughts and spun around, seeing Isaac standing behind her. He didn't speak, he just stared at her, taking in her appearances.

He could tell right away she hadn't been sleeping, he wouldn't be surprised if she was having nightmares of that night. He could also tell she had been drinking, and from the looks of it, she had been drinking a lot.

"I didn't think you would be here." Henley finally spoke, breaking the silence.

"I work here." Isaac pointed out, stating the obvious.

"I know, but I was hoping you wouldn't be here now."

"Sorry to disappoint."

She thought about apologizing for the way her comment sounded, she thought about just falling into his arms and telling him how much she missed him, but she did none of that. Instead she blew out a breath, then asked,"Have you noticed anything unusual?"

"You mean besides you talking to me?" He asked back with a sarcastic tone. This was the first time she went out of her way to speak to him since she dump him at the hospital then walked away without a backwards glance.

Henley rolled her eyes at his comment, then added,"I mean, have you see anyone weird here." When she saw him open his mouth, she quickly cut him off,"Yes, Isaac, besides me."

Isaac smirked, letting her know she was right to assume he was going to be a smart-ass again. He kept his eyes on her for a moment, then turned his head to look around the empty graveyard, before looking back at her to finally say,"Well, to be honest, I just got here, but I don't see anything."

"Wait, what was that?" She questioned with a concern look on her face when she saw something under his eye.

"What?" He asked, not realizing she had seen his latest bruise when he had turned his head.

Henley took a step toward him and grabbed his chin, tilting his head to the side to get a better look. She sucked in a breath, seeing the bruise under his eye, then turned his face back to her as she asked,"Your dad?"

"I need to get to work." Isaac said, pulling back from her and ignoring her question. She dumped him and she ignored him, so why the hell should he tell her anything?

"Isaac-"

"What?" He questioned as he jerked his arm away when she reached out for it to stop him. He threw out his arms as he added,"What, Henley? What do you want?"

When she didn't answer, mostly because she didn't know what to say, he added,"Should I have called you or text you so you can keep ignoring me? Should I have come to your house, knock on your window, just to have you lock it or close the blinds in my face or something?"

"I wouldn't do that." She said. "Isaac, no matter what, we're still friends-"

"The ignored phone calls and texts say otherwise." He bitterly cut in.

"Don't be like that." She softly said with a shake of her head.

"Hey, you dumped me, Henley." He pointed out. "I'm allowed to be the pissed off ex."

"Fine." She said with a sigh as she held up her hands in surrender. "Be a dick about it, but you can do it alone. I have enough crap to deal with."

He watched as she turned around and took a few steps, before he called out,"For someone who claims they are done walking away, you sure have been walking away from me a lot lately."

"Do you think this is easy for me?" She snapped as she spun around to face him. "Do you think I wanted any of this to happen? My mother is dead-"

"I know!" He interrupted her. "I know she's gone and I'm sorry you lost her, but that is _not_ your fault, no matter how many times you tell yourself otherwise." Taking a step closer to her, he added,"And I can guarantee you that she did not save you just so you could ignore everyone who loves you and turn into a miserable drunk."

"You don't know that!" She spat out.

"Yes, I do." He said, his face softened, he could see how much she was hurting and the last thing he wanted was to hurt her worse, but he just wanted to get through to her. He needed her to see that it was okay to grieve, that none of this was her fault and she wasn't alone. "I know how much your mother loved you, Meddy."

"Stop it!" She snapped as she turned to walk away. She couldn't hear this, not now.

He ignored her request and began to walk along behind her as he added,"Don't forget, I was with her that last night. We drove all over looking for you, she was not going to give up finding you."

He saw her shoulders drop and knew his words were getting to her, causing him to continue,"She was strong and confident in her final moments, she knew she could find you and she knew she could save you-"

"Shut up!" Henley screamed as she came to a quick stop. She spun around to face him and placed her hands on his chest to shove him backwards. "Just shut up!"

"She loved you, Henley."

"Isaac, I swear, if you don't shut up-"

"She loved you so much she never thought about the consequences, she didn't stop to think how her plan could go wrong, she just did it. She didn't even hesitate-"

"Stop it!" She yelled as she raised her hand to hit him. If she was sober, she would have handled this situation better, but right now she just wanted him to stop. She didn't want to hear anymore of this.

Before her hand could connect, he grabbed her wrist, then quickly spun her around. He folded his arms around her, holding her arms down as he tried to keep her still while she tried to wiggle out of his arms.

"Stop fighting me." He muttered as he held on to her tighter.

"Then let me go!"

"No!" He snapped. "Not until you listen to me."

"I don't want to hear this!" She screamed as she glanced at him from over her shoulder.

"Well you're going to!" He said back. "You're going to listen and you're going to feel it. You can't shut out the pain, Meddy."

"Isaac, don't do this... please, I can't..." She pleaded as she laid her head back against his shoulder, losing the fight in her.

He loosen his grip on her, but keep his arms around her as he kissed the side of her head and kept his lips pressed against it.

"She loved you..." He repeated, then softly added,"And she's not the only one."

"Isaac, you have to let me go." She softly said, then felt him lower his arms. She blew out a breath, tears filling her eyes as she whispered,"Just let me go."

"I did." He said, thinking she meant he needed to release her.

She turned around to look at him and shook her head. "No, I mean, you need to let me go. Just let me walk away, Isaac."

"You can walk away all you want..." He began to say as he caught her eyes. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop following you."

Henley swallowed hard, then turned her head to break eye contact. All she wanted was to stop walking away from him, for as long as she could remember he was all she had ever wanted, but she had to put her wants aside, she couldn't risk him being the next person to be hurt or worse.

"Next time you're looking in the bottom of a bottle for answers, just remember that." He said, getting her attention. When she cut her eyes back over to him, he added,"I'm not giving up on you, Meddy. You're just going to have to get use to seeing me as your shadow."

"Can't you just go back to being pissed at me?" She questioned. As much as she would hate it, she knew it would make everything easier if he just hated her.

"Oh, I am pissed at you." He stated. "But that doesn't stop me from loving you."

For a moment he thought he saw a ghost of a smile before her face fell, and she quietly said,"I should go."

As she turned around, he called out,"So if I do see something weird tonight, what should I do?"

She turned her head to look at him, then said the first thing that popped in her head. "Run like hell."

•••

 _A/N; I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of season two. I can't wait to write this season and share it with you all. If you haven't read the first story and you're confused, you can ask me questions or I'll suggest reading Mad Season to catch up._

 _Don't forget you can follow me on tumblr for story related things. I'll be posting the season two trailer and season two mix on there.  
_

 _Happy reading!  
xx  
_


	2. Get Mad

**02; Get Mad**

Next morning, Henley let out a moan as she began to wake up. She wasn't sure of the time, mostly because she was too lazy to open her eyes and check, but she knew it was early morning, she could feel the rising sun shining on her face as it peeked in between her bedroom curtains.

To be honest, she felt like she had just closed her eyes minutes ago. If she had to guess, she would bet she only had a few hours of sleep since she snuck in her bedroom and crashed on the bed. After her run-in with Isaac, she tried to search more for Lydia, but she couldn't get Isaac's words from her head. Next thing she knew, she was walking out of a liquor store with another bottle and was sitting on the hood of her car again drinking to forget.

Feeling eyes on her, she cracked an eye open and peeked through her hair that was mostly covering her face, to see her little brother, Logan, leaning against her bed staring at her.

A mournful look on his face as he quietly asked,"You're drunk again, aren't you?"

"Leave me alone." She groaned as she rolled over and tossed the comforter over her head. She smacked her lips, another groan escaping as she realized her mouth was as dry as a desert.

The younger boy was quiet for a minute, before adding,"We waited for you last night. Dad even came home early so we could all have dinner together."

"Good for him."

"But you never showed, so we had to eat without you."

"I was busy." She mumbled, trying to ignore the tone in his voice, the one that told her how disappointed he was that she never showed, the one that told her how much he needed her, but she couldn't be there for him. Like everyone else, he was better off without her.

"Drinking?" He questioned. When she didn't answer, he blew out a breath, then asked,"Are you going to school today?"

"I dunno." She said, her voice muffled by the comforter still over her head. Honestly all she wanted was to be left alone to catch more sleep or either a big bottle, both sounded good to her.

"Dad thinks we should go back. He thinks it'll help distract us from everything." He said, repeating the words his father told him the night before during dinner.

The room was silent for a moment as he was in deep thought. "I think... I think I want to go back today." He quietly said, wondering what her reaction would be.

"That's great. Have a nice day." She said while yawning, hoping that meant he was going to leave the room now.

"But Dad already left." He stated. When she didn't say anything, he leaned closer to her covered figure in the bed as he asked,"Henny, did you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you." She muttered.

He silently watched her, waiting for her to get up or at least move, but when nothing happened, he added,"Are you getting up, Henny?"

"God, Logan. Yes!" She snapped as she tossed the comforter aside. "All I wanted was a few _freaking_ minutes, but could I get a few more minutes? Noooo." She complained as she dragged herself out of the bed and avoided looking at him.

She stomped over to her closet, grabbing the first pair of black skinny jeans and dark color cami top she saw, then turned to go to the bathroom to shower. She paused when she saw that Logan was still standing by her bed, looking even more depressed than before.

"Well go get dressed." She stated as she motioned toward the door.

When she saw him jump at her tone, then run out of the room, almost tripping on his feet in the rush, she felt like kicking her own ass. The poor boy was already going through enough mourning for his mother and now she was being a total bitch toward him. She didn't mean to be, she was just tired, cranky and if she was honest, still a little drunk.

She let out a long sigh as she walked over to her dresser, opening the top drawer. She pulled out a pair of panties, then grabbed something a little extra; a bottle of clear liquor she had hidden in there recently. She turned up the bottle, taking a big swallow, feeling the warm liquid slide down her dry throat.

Some might frown on early morning drinking, but she knew she would not be able to get through the day without it. It was the only way to keep her mind numb, to keep the memories away. She was longing for the day she didn't hear her mother crying out in pain as she was writhing in pain on the ground. Or when she could close her eyes and not see her take her very last breath.

Maybe one day she would stop needing a liquid crutch and that day would be when she stopped viewing herself as a complete failure. The day she could stop blaming herself for killing her mother and putting Lydia through all the pain she was going through. The day she could look at her father and little brother without feeling like she ruined their lives.

But today was not that day.

With that thought in mind she turned the bottle up one more time.

•••

Minutes later, after a shower and a change of clothes, Henley was standing in the kitchen in front of the refrigerator. She opened the door and kept it open as she reached inside to grab a bottle of water. She was in the middle of drinking the whole bottle at once, when she heard a set of footsteps coming into the room.

As she continued to drink from the bottle, she turned her head and saw Logan standing near the doorway, as if he was afraid to approach her. She lowered the bottle and silently watched him for a minute, hating that she had hurt his feelings earlier. She flashed him a small smile as she asked him if he was ready.

After he nodded his head, she shut the refrigerator door with her boot covered foot, then the two siblings began to walk toward the front door. She grabbed a set of spare keys from the hook by the door since Derek still had her car keys.

"Where's your car?" Logan questioned as the two walked out onto the porch and he saw an empty driveway.

"At the cliffs." Henley answered as she began to walk down the stairs.

"Why is it there?" He asked as he walked along behind her.

"'Cause that's where I parked it." She vaguely answered.

"You _were_ drinking last night." He accused as he came to a stop.

"Yes, okay? I was at the cliff drinking last night, big deal." She stated as she turned around to face him and threw out her arms to get her point across.

"Are you still drunk now?" He questioned as he tilted his head to the side to look at her closely. "Mom always said not to get in the car with a drunk person."

"Yeah, well, Mom isn't here anymore is she, so what the hell does she know?" Henley snapped without thinking.

For the second time this morning she wanted to kick her own ass when she saw his face fall, before he turned and began to walk away from her. She blew out a sigh, silently cursing herself as she asked him where he was going.

"I'm going with Mrs. Allen." He said, referring to his best friend's mother and their next door neighbor.

"You don't have to do that." She argued. "I'll take you, Logan."

"I would rather you didn't." He said honestly, before he turned to walk away.

Henley let out a sigh as she ran a hand through her hair, then turned to walk in the opposite direction. School or not, she still needed to get her car. She had only taken a few steps, when she heard her brother call out her name. She turned to face him, wondering what he wanted.

"I miss Mommy too, Henny." He softly said. "But she wouldn't want us to act like this. She wouldn't want you to act this way." He added, sounding older than his seven years. "I just think, even if she's not here anymore, we should still try to make her happy."

Henley nodded her head at his words, feeling tears fill her eyes. She knew he was right, but it was hard to do the right thing when she was the cause of so many bad things.

As she watched her brother walk away, a part of her wanted to go back inside and grab the bottle out of her dresser, but maybe Logan had the right idea. Maybe school could be a good distraction during the day, a more healthy alternative instead of drinking as soon as the sun came up.

Maybe with everything else going on and all the other rumors swirling around, she can get lost among the crowd and fly under the radar. If she could do one thing right, maybe her brother will stop looking at her like he was earlier, like he finally realized she was the big disappointment that she felt she was.

Maybe getting back to the life she once knew, if only for a moment, wouldn't be so bad.

•••

Or maybe she was just full of crap, she thought to herself minutes later as she sat behind the wheel of her car in the student parking lot. Why in the hell did she think this would be a good idea?

Her eyes scanned the front of the school, seeing all the different cliques, and felt like she didn't belong with any of them. Things were so different now, she could never just walk up to a group of friends and laugh while they talked about the latest gossip or trade fashion advice like they didn't have a care in the world.

She moved her hand from the steering wheel to the key in the ignition, a part of her wanting to crack the car and just leave, but before she could make a move, she heard a knocking on her window, causing her to jump and snap her head to the side, seeing Stiles and Scott standing by her door.

She let out a sigh, realizing it was too late to run away now, then turned toward the backseat to grab her bag while Stiles motioned for her to hurry up. If it was anyone else she would think there was some big emergency, but Stiles always acted this way, like everything was a matter of life and death.

"Hey, you're back." Scott said, flashing her a friendly smile.

"Yeah, I guess." Henley answered with a shrug. She looked from one boy to the other as she asked,"So, what's going on? Any word on Lydia?"

"No. She's still missing." Scott answered.

"But something did happen last night." Stiles added.

"What?" Henley questioned concerned.

"I heard Dad on the phone this morning. There was a grave robbing last night." Stiles said.

"Wait, something happened at the cemetery last night?" She asked surprised. When she was there everything was fine, well somewhat, if you didn't count her chat with Isaac.

With her ex on her mind, she glanced around the parking lot looking for him, she assumed nothing happened to him or Stiles would have mentioned, but she still wanted to see with her own eyes that he was okay. When she saw him ride into the parking lot on his bike, she felt her heart rate slow back down to normal.

When Stiles began to talk, telling them what he had overheard on the phone, something- which they assumed was Lydia, tore into a grave and stole a liver.

"She ate the liver?" Scott asked while Henley wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"No, I didn't say she ate it. I just said it was missing." Stiles corrected him. "And you know what? Even if she did, so what? It's the most nutritious part of the body." He added, trying to take up for Lydia just in case.

"I never ate anyone's liver." Scott pointed out.

"Yeah, right, 'cause when it comes to werewolves, you're a real model of self-control." His friend said sarcastically.

"Actually, Stiles, he's one of the few werewolves you know." Henley spoke up as she gestured over toward Scott. "You could learn from him."

"That's true." Stiles said as he nodded his head and pointed a finger at her. He moved his finger to point at his friend next, then added,"You are the test case for this, so we should be going over what happened to you."

"What do you mean?" Scott asked as he looked at Stiles, then over to the brunette beside him.

"He means what were you thinking when you were turned." Henley explained.

"Yeah, what were you drawn to?" Stiles added.

"Allison." Scott simply said.

"Okay, nothing else? Seriously?" Stiles asked, his tone showing how annoyed he was by the answer. He needed more of an answer than that, he needed to find Lydia, he needed to help her.

"Nothing else mattered." Scott explained, causing his friend to roll his eyes.

Stiles shook his head and glanced off to the side in thought. He let out a sigh, then jerked his head over toward Henley as a thought crossed his mind.

"Hey, what about you?" He questioned her.

"What about me?" Henley asked confused. "Last I checked, I'm not a werewolf."

"No, but you are a supernatural creature." Stiles pointed out. "Is there anything you are drawn too?"

"Fórsas are drawn to anything supernatural." Henley told him. "I tried to track her last night and I did feel drawn to the cemetery."

"Wait, you were there?" Scott asked.

"Did you see Lydia? Did you see anything?" Stiles added frantically.

"No, all of this must have happened after I left because I didn't see Lydia. I didn't see anything weird. Just..." Her voice trailed off as she motioned toward Isaac over by the bike rack.

"According to the call Dad got there was a witness." Stiles said. He glanced over at his curly-haired teammate for a minute, then looked back at his friends as he added,"I guess Isaac was that witness."

"But, that's good, right? I mean, you could talk to him." Scott suggested as he looked over at Henley.

She gave him a short shake of the head, a pained look on her face as she said,"We're not talking too much lately."

"Wait, did you two break up?" Stiles asked in concern. He looked over at Scott for a moment, both surprised to hear this.

After what happened to her, the last thing she needed to do was pull away. In moments like this she needed to be surrounded by the people who loved her the most and it was clear to see exactly how much Isaac loves her.

"Is that-Is that really a good idea? I mean... considering everything that, you know, happened?" Scott added, speaking their thoughts out loud.

"Shit happened." Henley simply stated with a shrug, trying to downplay it, even though her heart was breaking. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Well, you, uh, you seem to be handling it well." Scott lied, unsure what else to say.

It was clear to see that she wasn't handling things well, how could she? She witnessed her mother dying and now she wasn't with the person she cared about the most. He knew how powerful love could be, he didn't know if he could even go on if he didn't have Allison by his side.

"Well, hey, if you ever want to hang out, you can give me a call." Stiles offered as he made a phone gesture with his hand. "We can be single buddies. Watch chick flicks. Eat ice cream. I'm down." He added, hating the thought of her dealing with everything alone.

"And I'm good." She said back. She saw them look at each other and could see the pity in the eyes, before they both looked at her. She knew they felt sorry for her and they were seconds away from bringing up what happened that night and ask her how she really felt.

When she saw Stiles open his mouth, she quickly cut him off, telling them both that she needed to go, but asked them to keep her updated on Lydia. Without another word, she brushed past Scott and began to walk across the parking lot.

She stepped up onto the sidewalk, then walked past the bike rack where Isaac was still standing. She felt his eyes on her, but she kept looking straight ahead, willing herself not to even look at him. It hurt too much to look at him.

Up ahead she saw Jackson talking to a homeless looking man digging in the trash. She breathed out a chuckle and shook her head when she saw him hand the man money then yell out for security before he began to walk away.

She picked up the pace and fell into step with her friend, before saying,"I see you're spreading the charm, Jacks."

"Hey, Mercer." Jackson said as he glanced over at the brunette beside him. "I didn't know you were coming back today."

"I didn't either, but here I am." Henley said with a sigh.

"Actually, it's good that you're here." He began to say as he came to a stop and turned to face her. "There's something I wanted to say to you-"

"Don't." She interrupted him. "Look, I'm not trying to be a bitch, but I can't handle any more 'I'm sorry's."

He let out a laugh and slipped off his sunglasses as he shot her a look. "I wasn't going to offer you condolences, I was going to invite you to a party."

"I like the sound of that." She said with a grin. "Keep talking."

"My house. Tonight. All you can drink."

"All you can drink? Those are my four favorite words." She said laughing. "I'll be there."

"See you then, Mercer." He said, flashing her his trademark smirk. He slip his sunglasses back on, then began to strut toward the school, like the big man on campus he was.

Henley watched him walk away for a minute, then tried to slyly glance over her shoulder to look at Isaac, but he caught her staring at him as he was watching her.

He went to take a step toward her, but she shook her head, then began to walk away from him, causing him to let out a loud sigh. As much as he loved her backside, he was really getting tired of always watching it walk away.

•••

As soon as Henley walked through the school doors, it was like everyone froze and turned to look at her. After her short stay in Eichen, she should be use to the stares, but strange enough, that she could handle, the looks she received now not so much.

She hated seeing all the pity stares and hearing the 'poor girl lost her mother' mumbles, but one thing her years of being popular taught her, was how to plaster on a fake smile and walk with your head held high.

She made her way down the hallway, trying to shut out all the whispers as she passed by her peers. She cut a corner, then came to a quick stop when she saw Allison digging in her locker. She knew she should check on her friend, she too lost someone, even if her aunt did end up being a psycho who held a gun on her and Scott. But she wasn't ready to talk about all of that, she couldn't handle it now.

She quickly turned and began to walk in the opposite direction. She glanced over her shoulders for a minute, thankful that Allison never saw her, then quickly jerked her head back when she felt herself slam into someone. When she saw it was Matt, she mumbled out an apology and tried to brush past him, but he reached out to lightly grab her arm to stop her.

"Hey, Henley, I was hoping to run into you." He began to say. He let out a chuckle and added,"Although not literally."

"Hey, Matt." She said politely. She pointed down the hall as she began to say,"I should go-"

"I'm sorry about your mom." He cut her off.

She gave him a tight smile, not wanting to come off as rude. She knew he meant well, but this was the exact kind of situation she was trying to avoid. "Thanks." She mumbled, she went to walk past him again, but like before he stopped her.

"As soon as I heard, I wanted to call or come by, but I also wanted to give you space." He explained, then quickly added,"Hey, do you remember that time she took us out for pizza and we tried just about every topping on the menu?"

Before she could say a word, he continued to reminisce,"I think it was what? Fifth grade? Me, you and Isaac had that project to do and she told us if we got a good grade on it she would take us out and she did."

"I remember." Henley quietly said as she folded her arms across her chest.

"I think that was the first time you tried pineapple on your pizza and you loved it." Matt added, not realize how much his story was bothering her. She couldn't handle hearing about the happy times right now, it was too painful.

"Or what about the time your parents took us bowling for Isaac's birthday-"

"Yeah, I remember that too." She interrupted him before he could say anymore. She began to walk backwards, trying to get away from him as she called out,"But, hey, look, I gotta go. I need to talk to my teachers about the work I missed."

"I can help you catch it." He offered as he took a step toward her like he was going to follow her.

She held up her hand to stop him as she said,"It's fine, I got it. See you, Matt."

Without another word, she quickly turned around and began to walk away, hoping like hell he wouldn't follow her. He watched her for a minute, then went to take a step to catch up with her, not ready to give up. But before he could move, he felt someone lay a hand on his shoulder to stop him. He turned his head to the side, seeing that it was Isaac who had stopped him.

"Hey, man." Matt said to his old friend as he stepped around to face him.

"You should let it go for now." Isaac said, ignoring his greeting as he nodded his head toward Henley's retreating form.

Matt blew out a chuckle and said,"Some things never change, huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Isaac asked confused.

"You always protecting her, asking me to leave her alone."

"I'm not asking you to leave her alone, but I am telling you to give her space." Isaac pointed out as he folded his arms across his chest. He remembered how Matt was with her in the past, how at times he would come on too strong and make her uncomfortable.

"She's going through alot right now and she's trying to work through it all the best she can, and she doesn't like everyone in her face. Just trust me."

"Right, because you always knew Meddy so well." Matt scoffed as he shot him a look to let him know how he really felt about his comment.

This was how it was growing up with them; Isaac was always giving him 'talks', telling him the best way to act around her and rubbing it in how much better he knew her than he did.

Isaac clenched his jaw and balled his fist down by his side. He always hated when Matt used his nickname for her, he could swear he always did it just to piss him off.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly released it and said as calmly as he could,"It's Henley, and yeah, I do know her best. So, like I said, leave her alone for now."

"I'm just trying to be her friend." Matt said, holding up his hands in surrender.

"That's fine, but a real friend knows when to back off." Isaac said, keeping his eyes on him for a moment and making sure he got the message.

After seeing Matt give him a small nod, he turned to head down the hall after her. He wasn't completely convinced that Matt would listen, but he would had a talk with him again if needed- right now though, being there for her was more important.

Matt took a few steps, then held up his camera, focusing it on Henley. He saw Isaac catch up with her and grab her elbow to stop her. As she turned her head to look at Isaac he snapped a picture, then glanced at the screen. He enlarged the imagine of her face and stared at the look on her face as she looked up at Isaac.

The look on her face was a look he had always wished he would see aimed at him. Even as kids, she always looked at Isaac a certain way- a different way then she looked at him or anyone else.

But now that he was back in her life, he was hopeful that the two could become close, then maybe one day, he'll finally see that look aimed toward him while Isaac was the one on the outside looking in.

•••

After his talk with Matt, Isaac rushed down the hallway to grab Henley's arm, then before she could protest, he pulled her into an empty classroom and shut the door for privacy. As soon as she exited her car earlier, he could tell she was overwhelmed and seconds from losing it.

He wasn't at all surprised that she was back to school so soon. He knew how hard she was trying to keep from thinking about everything that happened. He knew she was hoping that school would be a distraction, but it was hard to ignore what happened when everyone was quick to remind her. But he had hoped getting her in an empty room would give her a chance to breathe and have a minute to herself.

"Well, you really weren't kidding about being my shadow, were you?" She questioned as she shot him a look, remembering him telling her that the night before.

"Not at all." He said, flashing her a smile. He reached into his book bag and pulled out a hoodie he had shoved in there earlier, then held it out to her.

When she shot him a confused look, he explained,"You look like you need to let out a good, long scream. So bury your face in it and let it go."

She flashed him a genuine smile, but it was gone as quick as it appeared, before she said,"I'm good, but if you had a bottle somewhere in that bag, I'll take that. I could always use a good, long swig."

"I have water." He offered as he dug out a water bottle from his bag, it had their school colors and name on it.

"I was hoping for something stronger." She complained as she took the bottle from him, her throat was dry after all.

"I figured, but I can't help you there, babe." He said, watching her turn up the water bottle and take a big swallow. He wouldn't be surprised if she had already started drinking for the day and was feeling dehydrated, which was mostly why he made sure to fill the bottle up earlier.

He leaned back against a desk, his eyes glancing over her and taking in her appearance. She looked tired and rundown, but he couldn't deny she still looked amazing in his eyes.

"Anything else I can help you with?"

"Yeah." She began to say as she held the bottle back out to him. As he took the bottle from her, she added,"You could stop talking to me like that, using the caring boyfriend voice, and you can also stop looking at me like that too."

Isaac flashed her that smirk she loved as he folded his arms across his chest. He played dumb as he said,"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Henley argued. The looks were the same he gave her while they were dating, the one that always made her feel safe, loved and wanted; three things she didn't want to feel at the moment.

She slipped her hands into her jacket pockets to keep herself from reaching out to him as she said,"What happened to you being the pissed off ex?"

"I'm not feeling very pissed right now." He explained with a shrug. "It comes and goes though, so don't worry, it'll be back soon I'm sure. Plus you're pretty good at pissing me off anyways."

"That's actually not a bad thing." She pointed out. "All of this would be easier if you were mad at me."

"Don't start that." He warned as he pushed off of the desk to stand in front of her. "You don't get to do this, Henley. You don't get to dump me and then tell me how I should feel about you."

"I'm just trying to save you from wasting your time, Isaac. Look at my life... it's a mess!"

"I don't care-"

"I do!" She cut him off. "As much as I don't want to be in that world- the supernatural one, I'm not normal and I never will be, but you are. You need to stay far away from that and from me."

He looked at her for a minute, then shook his head and said,"And now the pissed off ex is back."

"Good. Keep him around." She stated, which pissed him off even more.

He rolled his eyes as he blew out an annoyed breath, then turned to leave the room before he said something he would regret. He paused for a moment when he heard her speak his name, causing him to turn to face her.

For a moment, he saw her face fall and he could swear she was having second thoughts. He could almost swear he could read her thoughts and knew she regretted her actions. He thought for a moment she would rush across the room and throw herself in his arms, but then in a flash that look was gone and the wall was back up.

Henley pushed all her feelings aside, forgetting the things she wished she could say to him, and instead asked,"What happened at the cemetery last night?"

"What?" Isaac asked.

At first he was confused on what she was talking about, then he realized she must have heard about the grave robbing last night.

Running a hand over his hair, he said,"It wasn't a big deal. Something broke into a grave and stole a liver." He left out being pushed into a grave and Derek helping him out. He also left out Derek's offer for now.

"Was it Lydia?" She questioned.

"I don't know." He answered with a shrug. "I didn't get a good look at it before..."

"Before what?" She asked when he paused.

Realizing he almost slipped and told her everything, he shook his head then said,"Just before it got what it wanted, then left. It happened too fast."

"So nothing else happened?"

"Nope." He lied with a shake of his head. He didn't want to lie to her, but he couldn't talk to her about this, he knew what her answer would be. But this was his decision, his life.

Derek had a lot of good points the night before, with the bite he would be stronger, he would be properly trained and he would be able to protect her. Peter was just the beginning, once word got out that a young fórsa was in Beacon Hills, every creature would be after her, itching to take her extra energy for one reason or another.

Henley watched him closely for a minute, feeling like he was leaving out something, but what more could there be? Maybe she was just so worried about keeping him safe she was reading into things.

"You could have called me." She finally said after a moment of silence.

"There wasn't really anything you could do." Isaac pointed out, plus he knew she was already going through enough and didn't want to worry her more. Compared to some of the other things going on in her life, someone taking a liver was minor.

"Plus you have a habit of ignoring me lately, so why bother." He couldn't stop himself from adding.

"You can always call me for werewolf reasons or if you just need a friend." She told him. If he was ever in danger or need a safe place away from his dad, she was there for him. She just couldn't be what she wished she could be for him, she couldn't be his girlfriend.

"I hear you, but things like a grave robbery is more of a cop problem, not a Meddy problem."

"If it involves you, Isaac, it is my problem." She softly said. When he shook his head at her words, she asked him what the problem was with her comment.

"You shouldn't do that, use the girlfriend voice." He teased, copying her from before. "One might start thinking you still care."

"Isaac-"

"We should get to class." He cut her off as he took a few steps backwards. He flashed her a grin and added,"I'm sure we'll be doing this again soon though."

"I take it you're not giving up the job of being my shadow anytime soon?" She questioned.

"Nope." He simply said as he turned and walked over to the door.

She watched him walk out of the room as the bell began to ring. She shook her head and let out a small chuckle. She shouldn't be surprised that he was being so stubborn and not giving up, he had always been that way. He would argue that she was the same way. It was one of the reason the two bumped heads so much, they were basically the same, and she had a feeling that wasn't going to change anytime soon.

•••

 _A/N; I feel like this chapter took forever since it's kinda filler-ish. I always have problems with those, but I'm okay with it for the most part. We are getting close to Isaac being bit, he is debating it at the moment._

 _Thank you to everyone reading and/or adding the story. Also big thanks to lilnightmare17, RHatch89, xxxRena, C. B. Weasley, SquidaQdaloo, zattomiik and sarah0406 for reviewing._

 _Happy reading!  
xx  
_


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